Dark Eldar vs Space Wolves Round III - 2000 points

As mentioned in my previous batrep, I'm retiring the Corpsethief and Dark Artisan temporarily to try units I don't take that often.  In this game, it's the Reavers and the True Born.  

Dark Eldar:

Haemonculous w/Scissorhands (joined to Grots) (WL)

4 x Grotesques w/Abberration and Scissorhands in Raider

4 x Incubi w/Klaivex in Raider w/Night Shields

5 x True Born w/4 x Blasters in Raider w/Night Shields

3 x 6 Reavers w/2 x Cluster Caltrops in each squad (+1 Ld on Combat Drugs...awesome   )

5 x 5 Warriors w/Blaster in each squad in Venoms w/2 x Splinter Cannons

3 x Dark Lance Ravagers


Space Wolves:

Najal Stormcaller (joined to Terminators) (WL)

Arjac Rockfist (joined to Terminators)

Murderfang in Drop Pod

10 x Grey Hunters in Drop Pod with Flamer

10 x Grey Hunters in Drop Pod with Flamer

10 x Blood Claws in Rhino with Flamer

10 x Blood Claws in Rhino with Flamer

2 x Land Speeders with Heavy Flamers and Heavy Bolters

Predator with Auto Cannon and Heavy Bolters

2 x 5 Fenrisian Wolves

4 x Thunderwolf Cavalry with TH/SS

5 x Terminators with TH/SS

Warlord Traits:  DE get 12 inch Fearless bubble around Warlord.  Space Wolves get 12 inch re-roll ones in shooting phase around Warlord.  

Psychic Powers:  Najal rolled on Sanctic and got Gate of Infinity, Cleansing Flame, Purge Soul, and Banishment.  

Mission:  The Relic (ugh).

Deployment:    Hammer and Anvil.  My opponent won the roll off and chose to go first.  I kept most of my army in reserve, deploying only the Reavers, Ravagers, and the Grots, all behind LOS blocking terrain.  

Pre-game Thoughts:    I was pretty disappointed we rolled the Relic, particularly since I wasn't bringing the Corpsethief Claw this game, which is pretty much tailor-made to grab the Relic and sit on it.  I wasn't sure if I would try to grab it with the Reavers or the Grotesques.  I also don't play Reavers very often...like ever, to be honest, so this game was really just a test to see how they perform.   The True Born were also kind of an experiment, as I normally prefer Ravagers, Scourges, and Talos for my anti-tank shooting.  My intent going into this game was to get more familiar with the aforementioned two units and get a feel for how best to use them.  

Turn One:  
Murderfang and one squad of Grey Hunters attempt to land in my deployment zone.  Murderfang scatters back almost on top of the Relic.  The Grey Hunters stick their landing.   Murderfang disembarks and grabs the Relic.  I have everything hidden so there is no shooting.  During my turn, the Ravagers move out from behind cover and draw a bead on Murderfang.  Nine Dark Lance shots result in two glances to Murderfang (of course).  

Turn Two:
Only one squad of Grey Hunters arrives from reserves and drops in the Space Wolves deployment zone.    The TWC and Fenrisian Wolves move forward toward the Ravagers.  Murderfang moves the Relic back towards the Space Wolves deployment zone.  One Venom w/ Warriors arrives from Reserve and deep strikes into the Space Wolves deployment zone near the recently arrived squad of Grey Hunters.  The Blasterborn also arrive and scoot behind some LoS blocking terrain.  Shooting sees one Ravager lose a hull point and is Stunned.  In my turn, the other two Ravagers knock the last hull point off of Murderfang, netting me First Blood and also putting the Relic up for grabs.  

Turn Three:
Najal and Arjac's Terminator squad arrives, but scatter badly backwards and land near the table edge of the Space Wolves deployment zone.  The Land Speeders deep strike without incident.  In shooting, the Grey Hunters glance the Venom in the Space Wolves deployment zone and kill two Warriors with their flamer.  In assault, a squad of Fenrisian Wolves charge the Stunned Ravager and wreck it.  In the Dark Eldar turn, my four remaining Venoms and my Incubi Raider all deep strike in and the Incubi disembark behind the Raider.  My scatter rolls are very lucky and nothing mishaps.  I bring everything down in the Space Wolves deployment zone, drawing a bead on the Grey Hunter squad which arrived in turn two.  I move and then turbo boost two squads of Reavers to surround the Relic.  I also move and then flat out the Grots' Raider near the Relic.  During my shooting phase, I wreck the Predator with the two remaining Ravagers and one Blaster from a Warrior squad.  The remaining Venoms and the Incubi Raider's Disintegrator Cannon manage to wipe out the ten man Grey Hunter squad.  

Turn Four:
In the psychic phase, Najal uses Cleansing Flame to take one hull point from the Incubi's Raider. In the shooting phase, the Land Speeders flame the Grots's Raider and one nearby Venom, killing one Grot, three Warriors, and putting a wound on another Grot.   One Venom loses a hull point from Grey Hunter bolter shots.  In assault, the TWC and Fenrisian Wolves charge the two remaining Ravagers and destroy them.  Najal and Arjac's Terminator squad easily blows up the Incubi's Raider, but fortunately, no Incubi are harmed in the explosion.  In my turn, the Blasterborn Raider moves and then flat outs to block one Rhino carrying Blood Claws from reaching the Relic.  The final squad of Reavers turbo boosts from my deployment zone to near midfield, looking to lend support to the Blasterborn.   One unit of Reavers picks up the Relic while another moves to set up a charge on the HQ Terminator squad.   The Incubi also surge forward, looking to charge the HQ Terminator squad.  All five Venoms and their occupants draw a bead on the Terminators as well.  The Grots and the Haemie disembark towards the Land Speeders, with thoughts of avenging their fallen comrade.  In the shooting, the HQ Terminator squad loses three Terminators, and Arjac takes one wound.  In assault, the Grots charge the Land Speeders and punch them to death.  The Reavers and Incubi charge the HQ Terminator squad.  The Reavers Cluster Caltrops tear through the squad like they were, well, Dark Eldar, leaving only Najal left alive.  The Incubi then straight up murder him, earning Slay the Warlord for the Dark Eldar.  

Turn Five:
The TWC and Fenrisian Wolves advance towards the Reavers squad holding the Relic.  In Space Wolves shooting, ten Blood Claws disembark from a Rhino, looking to target the Blasterborn's Raider.  The Blood Claw flamer kills two Blasterborn and shooting takes one hull point from their Raider.  The Reaver squad holding the Relic loses two members to bolter fire from Grey Hunters.  The TWC make their charge into the Reavers holding the Relic and kill them two or three times over.  The Relic is once again up for grabs.  In the Dark Eldar turn, the Warriors closest to the Relic disembark six inches to pick it up.  The Grots move towards the TWC and all my Venoms and remaining Reaver squads focus their sights on the TWC.  I unload a metric ton of poison into the TWC and bring it down fairly easily.  And with that, the Space Wolves concede, realizing that the TWC represented their last best hope to get the Relic and keep it.  Final Score is Dark Eldar 6; Space Wolves 1.  Another Victory for the Dark Kin!  Huzzah and Kudos, all around!

Post-game Thoughts:  Another really fun game.   And although the score didn't reflect it, this one felt much closer than the two previous DE vs. Space Wolves games we played.  In talking after the game, we both agreed that the key to the DE victory this game was mobility. Specifically, his march forward and his early deep striking, left his units out of position to make any meaningful contributions.  He had one Grey Hunter squad that landed in my deployment zone that didn't really do anything.  Ditto for his two units of Blood Claws in Rhinos.  He moved his fast units up to take out my Ravagers, but once Murderfang and the Predator were dead, the Ravagers ddin't have much to do anyways, so they were no great loss.  I'm still getting a feel for the Reavers.  I was impressed by the work they did against the HQ Terminator squad in assault and their shooting helped finish off the TWC.  I would say my co-MVPs were the Reavers and Venoms.  They put out enough dakka to grind down the units capable of stealing the Relic, making it easy to mop them up in assault.  My LVP was the Blasterborn.  I just didn't use them very well.  And really, anti-tank wasn't really that necessary in this mission as I could safely ignore his Drop Pods and his Rhinos as they both presented minimal threats with their shooting.  I'm going to replace them with another squad of Warriors with Blaster in my next game.  

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it!

Another great read and good to see some different units being used for the Raid. Your buddy needs more Land Speeders with Heavy Flamers ;-)

Thanks and glad you enjoyed it. My buddy is slowly realizing that he needs more Heavy Flamers and more TWC.